Luke Pollard MP Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
- Care Quality Commission inspectors visited Derriford Hospital’s A&E Department in an unannounced inspection in April
- Local MP says crises in primary care and mental health provision inevitably straining resources at Derriford
- Luke Pollard has been calling for extra funding to the hospital’s A&E Department since last year
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Plymouth’s hospital in April for an unannounced inspection. Today the CQC published their report. Noting that the level of care was outstanding, the report said that the Emergency Department required improvement. Under this Government, the Emergency Department has seen an increase in demand coupled with fewer and fewer resources.
Local MP Luke Pollard has praised the hospital’s staff who continue to do a brilliant job in more and more challenging circumstances. He has been calling for more funding to Derriford Hospital since last year and urged people in Plymouth to back the hospital’s campaign for a new Emergency Department (see video below). Derriford won that campaign and in December were awarded £30 million for a new Emergency Department. The works will start in 2020.
Today, commenting on Derriford Hospital’s CQC inspection, Luke Pollard MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport said:
“The staff at Derriford’s Emergency Department are first-class and were rightly praised by the inspectors for their care and professionalism.
“With primary care in Plymouth collapsing, a real crisis in local mental health provision and it becoming harder to get an appointment with a family doctor there is inevitable extra stresses put on Derriford.
“I’m pleased to have backed Derriford’s campaign for a new Emergency Department and look forward to work starting in 2020.
“I want Ministers to wake up to the very real and pressing crises in our NHS. They need to end their obsession with privatising the NHS and fragmenting it and instead put their energies into funding health properly especially in the south west where we are under-funded.
“Derriford has some of the NHS’ most dedicated and decent doctors, nurses and NHS professionals – it is time they were paid a decent wage and had the resources and facilities they so desperately need.”
A spokesperson for Derriford Hospital said:
“We are delighted the inspectors saw for themselves “a supportive and friendly culture within the department which was centred on the needs of patients” and that the “emergency department had a committed and well-motivated leadership team.”
“We would like to publicly applaud and thank our emergency team for this. As our patient feedback so often tells us, this team work exceedingly hard to give great care and it is often hugely appreciated by patients and their families.
“Our Emergency Department was originally built for a maximum of 240 people attending every day. The average attendance across the last year has risen, with regular attendances of more than 300 people per day. We had 393 patients one day last month (April 2019). This results in cramped facilities and sometimes overcrowding.
“This was also noted by the inspectors who found: “There were not enough available beds in the hospital to allow emergency patients to be admitted to a ward as soon as this was required. This had resulted in a crowded emergency department with patients receiving care and treatment in unsuitable environments.”
“We know this and are working to address it, both in terms of flow through the hospital and space within Emergency. In December 2018, we were awarded £30m to develop a new fit-for-purpose Urgent and Emergency Care Hub and work is expected to start in 2020. We are doing everything we can to try to reduce crowding in the meantime, having also invested in a large Acute Assessment Unit which regularly sees 60 patients every day; with around 29 of these referred direct from the main Emergency Department. We have also invested in additional staffing.
“CQC inspectors were positive reporting that “patients arriving by ambulance were assessed and treated quickly”, and noted “innovative ideas had been used to prevent unnecessary admission to hospital.”
“We know the situation around primary care in Plymouth is challenged and we are doing everything we can to manage the increased emergency demand which comes through our Emergency Department doors. We have made good progress, for example, despite seeing an increase in the number of ambulances arriving with patients, we have reduced the number of times ambulance crews are delayed.”
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